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45-Minute Roast Turkey With Stuffing on the Side

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Makes 10 to 12 servings 1x

Time About 45 minutes

The video here walks you through the butterflying process. Split, flattened, and roasted at a high temperature, a 10-pound bird will be done in about 45 minutes. Really. It will also be more evenly browned, more evenly cooked (the legs are more exposed; the wings shield the breasts), and moister than birds cooked conventionally.

Please take note: You must use a relatively small turkey. Do not plan your most important meal of the year around trying this method with a 20-pound bird. It won’t work. Second, an instant-read thermometer is helpful. And finally, if you have the giblets and neck from the bird and want to use them, rub them with melted butter or olive oil and roast them separately a day or two ahead of dinner. Figure an hour at 350°F. Then chop up the edible parts to add to the stuffing or the Sherry Reduction Gravy.

The stuffing is so simple and delicious. And easy to make vegetarian: Instead of the livers, substitute 1 3/4 cups drained cooked or canned cannellini beans (one 15-ounce can).

Units Scale

Ingredients

For the stuffing:

  • 10 tablespoons butter, softened, plus more for greasing the baking pan
  • 6 ounces chicken or turkey livers
  • 1 1/2 cups parsley leaves
  • 3/4 cup chopped shallots
  • Salt and pepper
  • 12 slices good day-old white bread

For the turkey:

  • 8– to 12-pound turkey
  • 10 or more cloves garlic lightly crushed
  • Several sprigs fresh sage, rosemary, and/or thyme or several pinches dried
  • 1/3 cup melted butter or olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 450°F. Prepare the stuffing first: Grease an 8-cup baking pan or dish (like a 9- x 13-inch pan or ceramic or glass dish of any shape). Chop together (by hand or in a small food processor) the butter, liver, and parsley; stir in the shallots and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  2. Spread half the mixture on 4 of the bread slices; top each with another slice of bread, then spread the remaining mixture on the outsides of the sandwiches. Cut each sandwich into 6 pieces. Scatter them evenly into the prepared dish and cover tightly with foil. (You can assemble the stuffing up to a day before baking, just pop it in the refrigerator and take it out when you put the turkey in the oven.)
  3. Prepare the turkey: Cut the backbone out of the turkey as you would a chicken. Turn the bird over and press on it to flatten. Put it breast up in a roasting pan that will just accommodate it. A slightly snug fit is okay. The wings should partially cover the breasts and the legs should splay out a bit.
  4. Tuck the garlic and herbs under the bird and in the nooks of the wings and legs. Drizzle with the butter and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
  5. Roast for 20 minutes, undisturbed. By this time the bird should be browning; remove it from the oven, baste with the pan juices, and return it to the oven. Reduce the heat to 400°F (or 350°F if it seems to be browning very quickly). Put the covered pan or dish of stuffing in the oven now and let it bake alongside the turkey for 15 to 20 minutes.
  6. Begin to check the bird’s temperature about 15 minutes later, or 10 minutes if the bird is on the small side. It is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a thigh reads between 155° and 165°F; check in a couple of places, without touching bone. When you take the turkey out of the oven, uncover the stuffing, lower the heat to 350°F and continue roasting until it’s crisp around the edges and on top, and registers 180°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 20 minutes.
  7. Let the bird rest for at least 10 or up to 30 minutes before carving. Use that time to make the Sherry Reduction Gravy as described above. Carve the turkey and serve it with the piping hot stuffing and gravy at the same time.

— Turkey recipe adapted from How to Cook Everything, Completely Revised Twentieth Anniversary Edition. Stuffing recipe adapted from the New York Times: The Minimalist: Give Thanks in Three Hours from Scratch